


low fire (high rush)

by suheafoams



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Fluff, M/M, POV Outsider, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28997814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suheafoams/pseuds/suheafoams
Summary: All things considered, Hwanwoong tells him on a regular basis Seoho’s a bit of an idiot when it comes to people’s feelings, and Seoho’s inclined to agree.But it is ofinterestto Seoho, how Keonhee and Youngjo are getting along as of late.With Keonhee, Youngjo truly transforms, equal parts playful and vicious. He fights back against Keonhee’s petty comments and overused retorts, parroting them back at Keonhee until Keonhee’s at a loss for words entirely—an amazing feat in itself.(seoho watches keonhee and youngjo trip and stumble their way into love.)
Relationships: Kim Geonhak | Leedo/Lee Seoho, Kim Youngjo | Ravn/Lee Keonhee
Comments: 26
Kudos: 116





	low fire (high rush)

**Author's Note:**

> mmmm idk how many people will be interested in reading this but i joked that i wanted to write keonjo but didnt know how to write anything other than seoho pov and u know what happens when dahlia Jokes. fics happen 
> 
> thank you!!! to julija for feeding me little tidbits about predebut youngjo to help with characterization) 
> 
> hope it's a fun read :p tho unconventional

Seoho isn’t sure when it starts, this odd energy between two of his band mates. 

All things considered, Hwanwoong tells him on a regular basis Seoho’s a bit of an idiot when it comes to people’s feelings, and Seoho’s inclined to agree. 

Seoho likes the structured complexity of puzzles and exams and challenges, which in hindsight always, _always_ have hard rules they operate by, but he’ll do his absolute best to avoid deciphering any human emotions beyond hunger or the twisted delight of someone realizing they’ve fallen victim to one of his jokes. 

Thus, he doesn’t pay it any attention, when the girl who works at the convenience store closest to their dorm turns bright red every time he tells her to have a good night after he’s bought some ridiculous snack Keonhee or Dongju are craving. He pretends not to notice, either, when the rest of the members watch him like five, fluffy hawks in the corner of the room waiting for him to break on the days his laughter goes flatter, grows louder to match his climbing frustrations with himself. 

He also conveniently forgets every compliment Geonhak’s ever directed at him on broadcast, though he lets Geonhak cling a little longer at home than he’d allow in front of fans, or an entire film crew with cameras that will capture way too many angles for Seoho’s liking. Geonhak stays quiet, is too shy to ask hard questions much less expect _answers_ , but he’s a comforting presence when he’s got his chin hooked over Seoho’s shoulder, watching Seoho cook up actual dinner and not a plate of food designed for psychological harm. 

But it is of _interest_ to Seoho, how Keonhee and Youngjo are getting along as of late. 

Youngjo gets along with everyone. He’s mild. A soft rain. He lets the younger members make jabs at his lack of a competitive nature, his vanity, his eclectic taste in fashion that results in outfits only held together by the sheer force of his confidence. He hardly reinforces discipline strictly enough to be effective, and he doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve as much as he puts his love on blast three times a day so everyone knows how much he cares about them. 

(When Youngjo had first come to RBW, Seoho had been expecting someone overbearing, arrogant. Seoho was used to elders like that, but he hadn’t wanted Keonhee and Hwanwoong to fall into the hands of an ex-YG trainee who wanted to see them suffer until they almost broke before potentially teaching them how to grow. They could handle it, yet Seoho remained wary all the same. 

He’d closed his eyes, waiting for a cold, sharp personality, a shard of glass to fall in the room. 

What they got instead was a boy with concealer smudged over a zit on his cheek, a voice soft as silk, and a self assured, but unassuming gaze. Flower petals in place of razor sharp thorns. 

“Oh,” Youngjo had murmured after formal introductions were done, stepping closer to Seoho. “Your eye smile is really beautiful.”

The atmosphere, originally tense and uncomfortable, had immediately dissolved into something of complete and total chaos as Keonhee and Hwanwoong collectively gasped, taken aback by Youngjo’s flirtatious nature, not knowing it was only a small fraction of what was to come.) 

With Keonhee, Youngjo truly _transforms,_ equal parts playful and vicious. He fights back against Keonhee’s petty comments and overused retorts, parroting them back at Keonhee until Keonhee’s at a loss for words entirely—an amazing feat in itself. 

It’s funnier, too, because Keonhee is the only one Youngjo singles out like that, the only one he observes in order to strike in moments of weakness, while he observes everyone else merely to see which of them might inspire lyrics for his next love song. 

Most of the time Keonhee isn’t anyone’s target for more than a few seconds, purely out of luck and also out of consideration for his weak nerves. Seoho likes that Keonhee plays along with his jokes and smiles at him even when neither of them are in a great mood, and Hwanwoong and Dongju only insult Keonhee in all the ways he doesn’t care about to see him bristle and pout back cutely at them. (Geonhak’s too busy working out every free moment he gets, and doesn’t possess a single mean bone in his body beyond what leftover sly will Seoho hands him.) 

It sure is a _circumstance,_ Seoho thinks to himself one afternoon, as he watches Youngjo quietly mirror Keonhee’s stomps of irritation to mock him, which is promptly followed by the familiar reddening of Keonhee’s cheeks and a howl of _how much longer are you going to torture me? stop copying me!_

The least targeted, being pinned down like a struggling fly by the least aggressive. Seoho wants to laugh every time he’s reminded that Youngjo goes out of his way during variety schedules to film Keonhee freaking out for the sake of immortalizing every live rendition of _The Scream_ painting in .gif format. 

“Is it because he’s special?” Seoho mumbles, and at the sound of Seoho’s voice, Geonhak stirs from where he’s dozed off against Seoho’s shoulder. 

“Mmrh?”

“Nevermind, puppy,” Seoho says. Geonhak had spent all of last night working on lyrics that he insisted weren’t coming out right only because he wasn’t trying hard enough. Seoho thinks Geonhak’s a fool for pushing himself past his limits, but he’d contained his genuine concern underneath remarks about Geonhak’s greasy blue hair and much needed shower. “Go back to sleep.” 

Geonhak hums, hand slipping underneath the hem of Seoho’s sweater and palm resting on bare skin. 

“Hey.”

“Warm,” is all Geonhak says, tightening his other arm’s grip around Seoho’s waist. 

Miraculously, Keonhee isn’t screaming anymore when Seoho redirects his attention to what the oldest and fourth oldest are up to. 

Keonhee’s somehow tucked his lanky, oversized greyhound frame into Youngjo, who’s laughing and mumbling words too quietly, too rushed together for Seoho to make out the separate sounds and identify them. Maybe it’s the awkward, makeshift embrace they’re in, but Youngjo’s lips press against Keonhee’s bangs like he’s giving him a forehead kiss, before he pulls back and rests his chin on the crown of Keonhee’s hair. 

Kisses aren’t uncommon among them. Everyone takes turns tossing Dongju in the air and then showering him with wet, loud, exaggerated kisses on his cheeks and nose and hair every time he’s upset, and Keonhee sometimes gets kissed by whoever’s closest in the hopes he’ll stop talking like a radio that can’t be turned off. 

(On rare occasions, Seoho wakes up to soft, small, slightly chapped lips at his jaw or the nape of his neck, when Geonhak pretends to forget he has his own bed. Seoho doesn’t shove him onto the floor only because he knows Geonhak’s courage is dwindling, and Geonhak hesitates to ask for so many things because of his size and voice and the image those two things have built for him.) 

But in the dim light of their kitchen, Youngjo looks a little sad, a little unsure of himself even as he’s magically contained Keonhee’s wily noodle limbs and used his lullaby of a voice to wash away Keonhee’s wrath. On Youngjo, it’s an anomaly of an expression in a sea of his usual smug, pleased, unphased reactions, but Seoho supposes faltering is inevitable, even for greasy hyung Youngjo, when you’re in danger of caring too much. 

✧

Seoho doesn’t bring it up to Youngjo. 

Not because he doesn’t think the oldest will be open to a conversation, but because Youngjo will more than likely nudge Seoho into opening up himself afterwards, with the sort of earnest smile and glossy bug eyed stare that will melt Seoho like a s’more on a fire and make him spill out terrible, disgusting confessions of love or feelings of inadequacy against his will. 

Seoho doesn’t want to touch difficult feelings with a ten foot pole unless they’re other people’s problems. Then he _might._ For fun, or for thinly veiled concern. 

He’s also not sure if his observations are just him reading too deeply between the lines. He’d maybe consult Hwanwoong, but Hwanwoong will definitely ask Dongju what he thinks, and Seoho doesn’t want to draw all the attention to Youngjo where he probably doesn’t want it, if he can help it. 

Seoho’s work is cut out and laid neatly in front of him, though, when Keonhee barges into his room a few weeks later and plops down unceremoniously on Seoho’s bed. Seoho sets down his phone, feigning complete confusion. 

Youngjo’s out with Yonghoon, last time Seoho checked the group chat, and Geonhak has been dragged along with Dongju to get dessert at a new cafe that’s opened up near their dorm. Geonhak’s going to complain the whole time he’s there but he’ll definitely upload a cute video to their group twitter later, where he’s laughing in the background as Dongju poses prettily with strawberry cake. 

Hwanwoong is probably passed out in one of the practice rooms, dreaming up new choreographies in his sleep. Seoho’s found him many a time curled up against the wall mirror, still biting onto the straw of his watery milk tea where the ice has melted down, plastic cup balanced precariously between his knees. 

“Youngjo hyung is so _annoying,_ lately,” Keonhee complains, and Seoho blinks at him. 

“Because he uses your same tactics against you?” 

“No,” Keonhee says. “He’s just…” Keonhee reaches out a hand for Pepe, who’s leaned up against the wall, and Seoho gives him the frog plushie without a word, holding back a laugh when Keonhee immediately starts tying Pepe’s arms into a twisted pretzel knot. “I’m the only one he’s ever mean to.”

“That’s not true,” Seoho says. “Remember when he pretended to not understand that game during filming and I ended up with an entire bakery’s worth of flour on my face?” 

Keonhee laughs. Picks at a thread in Seoho’s shorts, now that Pepe’s sitting securely in his lap, green fuzzy arms crossed to represent how Keonhee’s feeling. “I know, but he’s not all…” he sighs. “I asked him to eat sushi with me, and he said he would be too busy trying to work on songs so he was going to get ramen from the convenience store, and _then_ I found out he went to go eat sushi with Yonghoon hyung last minute.”

“Oh no,” Seoho says thoughtfully before offering, “Maybe he wanted a quieter lunch.” 

“I’m well behaved in restaurants!” Keonhee says, shoving at Seoho’s shoulder. “Be serious.” 

Examining his nails, Seoho asks, “Have you thought about what you want from him?” 

Keonhee’s frown is apparent even in his voice. “What does that mean?” 

“Like,” Seoho says, “you don’t really care when Dongju and Hwanwoong piss you off. And you tell Youngjo hyung all the time to go eat by himself.” 

“It’s different with Youngjo hyung,” Keonhee says. “I don’t mean it when I say stuff like that, but he goes and actually leaves me alone and then smiles at me later all weird and says _sorry I didn’t see your message until now_ —”

“He lets you sit in his lap,” Seoho says, “despite how much space you take up.” 

“He lets everyone sit on his lap,” Keonhee says. He’s sulking, patting at Pepe’s head, and Seoho resists the urge to take a picture. “It’s not like it means anything.” 

“If you like him so much that you want sitting in his lap to mean something,” Seoho says, “why don’t you just tell him?” 

“Are you kidding me?” Keonhee huffs. “He’d probably take that as some grand confession of love, or something, and I definitely don’t…” he freezes, and Seoho nods, waiting for Keonhee to continue. “Oh no.” 

“Haha,” Seoho says, with only a smidge of empathy. “Oh no indeed.”

“...Am I in love with Youngjo hyung?” 

“I don’t know,” Seoho replies, because he doesn’t spoon feed people their emotions, and also because he’s a little entertained by the increasingly wild range of emotions morphing across Keonhee’s features. “Are you?” 

“I probably am,” Keonhee says, sighing. Seoho’s impressed by how fast Keonhee comes to terms with it, but he’s also not surprised, since Keonhee processes his emotions in a healthy, timely manner and doesn’t shove them away to think about never like Seoho does. “I can’t believe this.” 

“Can’t believe what?” 

Maybe Keonhee isn’t thrilled with the idea of being attracted to Youngjo. He pretends to vomit whenever Youngjo insists that Keonhee tell him he’s pretty, but it could be because Youngjo’s breath after breakfast smells like oily fish and not so much that Keonhee actually hates complimenting him. Seoho has seen the way Keonhee smooths out Youngjo’s jackets and fixes his collar, the way Keonhee stares a little longer when the stylists embrace Youngjo’s curly hair instead of bending it to a straightener’s will. 

“That I didn’t notice _sooner_ ,” Keonhee says as he puts his hands on his hips. The motion jostles Pepe into falling off to the side, forgotten in the wake of newfound romantic realizations. “I could have done something about it by now if I wasn’t so busy being petty.” 

Seoho should get some popcorn. “This is quite a development.” 

“It is,” Keonhee says. “You’re a genius.” He pauses, leans over to tickle Seoho on the sides and laughs in delight as Seoho yelps. “Well, you’d be even more of a genius if you applied what you just told me to whatever thing you have going on with Geonhak.” 

“If you’re done freaking out about your heart boner for Youngjo,” Seoho says, trying to catch his breath while pushing Keonhee’s bony arms and hands away (and definitely not thinking about sleepy secret kisses from a blue haired puppy of a man) “you’re more than welcome to leave.” 

“Don’t be like that,” Keonhee says. He’s easily deterred from torturing Seoho further as his mind wanders to other things. “Oh yeah. I was thinking of turning on VLIVE and talking to Tomoons for a bit. Wanna join me?” 

“I just helped you through a crisis, and now you want me to spend more time with you? Where’s the incentive?” Seoho jokes, which has Keonhee whining loudly even as he watches Seoho grab some lip balm and an extra hoodie, agreement clear in his actions despite the teasing. 

✧

Seoho can’t say he’s surprised when Keonhee and Youngjo somehow get embroiled into another argument. This time it’s about where they should eat. 

Youngjo is still gleeful whenever he can get Keonhee worked up, even though he backs off every once in a while and carefully treads around saying things like _eat by yourself! do it on your own!_ and _whatever, Keonhee-ah~_

Keonhee’s explosive, too, maybe because he hasn’t figured out what to do with his weird combination of love-hate for the man and is thus deriving what little happiness he can from telling Youngjo to _shut the hell up._ Seoho loves Keonhee, but Keonhee gets so _shrill_ , and Seoho should probably stop making fun of Geonhak’s speaking voice because the lowness of Geonhak mumbling for too long about personal stories he thinks Seoho won’t remember in the morning is at the very least a soothing experience. 

It’s so late in the evening, too. Seoho’s head hurts from not sleeping well last night, and Geonhak’s pecs aren’t anywhere close enough for him to oh so casually use as a pillow. Dongju and Hwanwoong won’t be the ones to break up the fight, too fascinated by the rare display of spite from the most gentle of their hyungs, so Seoho can’t look to them for damage control either. 

He’s thinking about crawling back home and into bed. Forgoing dinner seems like a decent idea because he doesn’t know how much longer he can watch Keonhee and Youngjo be trainwrecks in front of each other when they’re disturbingly agreeable with _everyone else._

That is, until he hears Youngjo ask Keonhee, in a syrupy tone of voice comparable to cheese fondue, “Are we going to kiss, Keonhee-ah?” 

Seoho can see Geonhak’s nostrils flare in surprise from across the room, and he would laugh, but he holds his breath instead. 

“Do you want to?!” Keonhee asks, like there’s only Youngjo here and four mysterious flies hovering around the room. “Because I want to kiss you very much, even though I sometimes also want to strangle you!” 

Well, Seoho thinks, shoulders shaking with silent laughter, that’s one way to go about it. 

“I mean asphyxiation _is_ a relatively common kink—” Hwanwoong whispers, and Dongju kicks him. 

Youngjo’s eyes widen enough the whites are showing on all four sides (an even rarer event than his spite). Seoho thinks the four of them should make a break for it and leave Youngjo to deal with the consequences of his own fake flirting, but it seems impolite to make a ruckus and destroy the moment. Atmosphere is important for occasions like this. 

“Yeah,” Youngjo finally says, almost resigned even if he’s still being sweet about it. Keonhee’s mouth goes a little slack, his whole expression softening into something surprised and happy. “What are you going to do about it?” 

“I’m going to—” and then Keonhee _realizes,_ that they’re still in the practice room, with four pairs of curious, amused eyes on them. “Oh my god.” 

“It’s time to go, kids,” Seoho says, standing up and letting himself laugh hard enough that his stomach starts to hurt, “Up, up, we gotta go—” 

Youngjo’s ears are red, and he’s smiling thinly at the ground, and _oh man_ this is serious isn’t it? because Seoho has never seen the man embarrassed to the point of turning into a strawberry. Seoho’s going to tease him about it later if everything goes well.

“Good luck,” Geonhak says to no one in particular (he’s not even looking at Keonhee or Youngjo, for one thing), before Dongju and Hwanwoong bowl into him and consequently make all three of them tumble out the door, Seoho following closely behind. 

✧

More often than not these days, Keonhee takes to sitting in Youngjo’s lap instead of actual chairs. Youngjo’s affection radiates with such intensity out of his eyes that Seoho sometimes checks to see whether the humidity in their area increases whenever Keonhee steps into the room, Youngjo’s whole face lights up so bright. 

“Maybe we should go back to before Keonhee accidentally declared his intentions in the middle of the practice room,” Dongju says, stabbing at a rice cake in the takeout container and stirring it in the sauce until he gets the right consistency of spice and cheese. He pretends he’s going to feed it to Geonhak, who inevitably whines when the rice cake ends up in Dongju’s own mouth instead. 

(Seoho does the same thing to Geonhak, before last minute changing his mind and showing mercy by letting Geonhak’s teeth bite down into actual _ddeok_ and not just air. Geonhak gets sauce on the corner of his mouth, like a kid, and Seoho wipes it off with his thumb before realizing it’s probably a bad idea. His reward is Hwanwoong grinning at him like a hyena and Geonhak pretending he has no clean fork to feed himself with for the rest of the meal.) 

“I actually had a big plan to confess formally,” Keonhee says, eyebrows thoughtful in the way they raise and pinch together. “But I clammed up every time I saw Youngjo hyung’s stupid face.” 

Youngjo’s lip wobbles. “I didn’t know that, Keonhee.”

“Then you confessed that you loved him and wanted to strangle him all in one breath,” Seoho remarks. “Romantic.” 

“Kinky,” Hwanwoong adds. 

“Shut _up,_ ” Keonhee hisses, before burying his face into Youngjo’s neck and shoulder. “Terrorize someone else.” 

“I kind of miss when Keonhee would turn into fizzing candy because he was so mad at Youngjo hyung for giving him a taste of his own medicine,” Hwanwoong says, ignoring Keonhee. “Are we going to see that again anytime soon?” 

Seoho doesn’t think Hwanwoong will have to wait long for that. Keonhee and Youngjo have always sounded the happiest when they seem like they’re at each other’s throats, and it’s only a matter of time before Youngjo inevitably picks up another snide retort pattern from Keonhee and returns it tenfold. 

(Seoho’s also not currently thinking anything in that empty brain of his, because Geonhak has hooked his chin over Seoho’s shoulder and is singing a melody sweet and soft to himself while he rests his hand on top of Seoho’s, letting his fingers fill the space where Seoho’s separate. Seoho is definitely not fond of him. Not at all.)

“If you guys send me all the embarrassing, cute photos and video clips of Keonhee you have,” Youngjo says, with a playful spark in his eyes as Keonhee pales and the two youngest lunge for their phones, “your wish might just be granted.”

**Author's Note:**

> title is a very abstract reference to my childhood memories of how ceramic glaze transforms in the kiln (that's what keonjo remind me of! super explosively bright ceramic glaze)
> 
> **please consider commenting if you enjoyed reading! tell me your favorite line? please :D**


End file.
